


Tracy Boys Origins -  No 1 - When Alan Was Born

by thunderbird_dragon



Series: When they were born (Tracy Boys Origins) [1]
Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-05
Updated: 2017-10-05
Packaged: 2019-01-09 12:10:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12276210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thunderbird_dragon/pseuds/thunderbird_dragon
Summary: The four Tracy boys wait for news of Alan's birth, they had been good, really they had, they'd waited patiently.





	Tracy Boys Origins -  No 1 - When Alan Was Born

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote a whole series of how each of the Tracy boys entered into this world, but PLEASE don't be tempted to read them out of order Alan first, then Gordon, Virgil and John. Leaving Scott for the big finish.  
> (Please note: I do not own Thunderbirds or any of the characters in it, this is total head cannon, written for my own pleasure and anyone elses who wishes to read it.)

Three anxious boys and a sleeping toddler sat on the bench, waiting outside the ward door. 

They had neither seen nor heard anything of their mother since she had gone into labour at the end of a perfect day out with a picnic on the beach. The boys, still sandy and salty, sat very close together, with the toddler, Gordon, asleep on the lap of the eldest, Scott, his head turned into Scott’s neck, his long blonde eyelashes irritating his brother’s neck occasionally, not that Scott could show irritation right at that moment. His fierce focus was on the door as though if he willed it enough, it would open and they would have some sort of information. He twisted his wrist to see the time without disturbing the sleeping child – and hour and a half! Couldn’t someone – please - tell them something!

He looked down the line of boys. John at the other end of the line was watching the door as intently as he was but Scott wondered what was going through his mind. John was old enough to remember the anguish of Gordon’s birth, but this new baby was full term. They understood the biology and their father had said there should be ‘no reason for concern’, but they had both seen the frown on his face when he’d said it.

Little Gordon had caused quite a stir, coming two months early. Their mother had been unwell afterwards but it was the question of whether baby Gordon would survive that caused the most anxiety. Months were spent at the hospital tending the little scrap of humanity, struggling to develop lungs after leaving the protection of the womb. Yes, John would be reliving that in his head.

Virgil, on the other hand, had been too young to remember the details, though he would have been aware of all the angst never the less. He now sat between John and Scott, looking down thoughtfully at his sandy hands, taking it all in and saying little.

“You okay, Virg?” Scott asked.

John and Virgil both looked up together.

The younger boy nodded then said in a near whisper, “I wish Dad would get here.” He was a tall kid for his age, almost up to John’s shoulders already, and strong with it but it didn’t stop him from showing his real age and crying at times like this. Scott noticed for the first time, the streaks of tears making river patterns down his salty face, Scott went to wrap an arm round him but nearly dropped Gordon in the process.

Every one of them jumped a little, but Scott recovered and Gordon hardly noticed the movement, only half waking, his chocolate brown eyes flashing a smile at Scott for fleeting moment before he snuggled back into Scott’s shoulder.

“D’you want me to take him for a while?” John asked.

Scott shook his head gently, “No, I’m more worried this!” and he jerked his head towards the boy between them, trying not to make it too conspicuous. John looked down on Virgil for the first time in a while to see him smearing away tears from his face with his tee shirt and fingers. Virgil had devoted a lot of time and trouble in making his older brothers believe he was a big boy now, he wasn’t going to spoil it all by letting them see his tears. All he actually succeeded in doing was to smug salt and sand and the general grubbiness of his fingers all across his face.

Scott and John grinned at each other.

“Hey Virgil, looks like you might have something mucky on your face there!” John drew him in close and wiped away the smudges, “Looks like you’ve been in a fight or something!” He didn’t take his arm away once he’d finished but kept it wrapped securely round Virgil’s shoulders. He wondered if Virgil would protest, after all he was 7 now and didn’t go in for all that ‘mushy stuff’, but instead Virgil nestled in a little closer with his face firmly titled down, in case his eyes leaked again.

“Hey!” Scott tried to lighten the moment, “Mom and Dad were keeping it a surprise if the new baby will be a boy or a girl! Which are you hoping for, Virgil?”

His little shoulder shrugged, “Don’t care, I just want Mom and Dad.” And they could both tell he’d lost his battle against the tears and they were flowing freely now.

Scott bit his lip – it was okay to cry! He’d been close for a while now himself, eldest or not, and seeing his kid brother crying was enough to set his eyes stinging and the tears toppling down his own face.

“Virg?… Virgil! Look at me!” Scott turned to him, and Virgil looked up to see his hero, his eldest brother crying too. “It’s okay, Virgil, we’re all worried, we all want Dad to get here, we all want this to be okay…. Hey! look even John’s started!” They both looked over at John, it wasn’t easy to make John cry, he held everything inside, but this was even too much for him.

Scott’s tears fell on the toddler’s face and he woke gently, straightening up on Scott’s lap. Seeing the tears he reached up to dry them for Scott with his tiny toddler fingers. “What’s up Stott?” He’d not yet managed to say Scott’s name correctly. He leaned back a little to look at his other big brothers in a row on the seat, each one of them with tears rolling down their faces. “You all crying, why you all crying, Stott?”

Scott clenched his teeth to regain control, breathed in slowing and answered, “We all want Dad to get here, Gordon.” It was the best he could come up with quickly.

“Ooh!” Gordon tried a smile, it brought sunshine back into the room. He reached down and held Scott’s slender wrist, tapping the glass of the watch. “But look, its okay, it’s not time yet. See, it’s not time yet for Daddy to be here!” and he beamed at them in turn.

That would teach them! Their pet phrase for the over exuberant toddler was “It’s not time yet, Gordon!” and they’d tap their watch, “See, not time yet!” Not time for his favourite TV show, not time for his swimming lesson, not time yet to eat! It really hadn’t taken him long to learn to use it himself. The older ones smiled at each other, caught in their own trap! But one thing was important, it had made Virgil smile too, Gordon could always be relied on to bring a smile back to Virgil.

“Can we go home now, Stott?”

“No, sorry, not yet. Mommy’s just in there and she’s going to get us a new baby.” Scott smiled down at the wriggling toddler.

“Oh, is it a shop for babies?” Gordon looked up, his huge brown eyes innocent of the discomfort the question gave to Scott and John. 

John chuckled and mouthed, “Good luck answering that one Stott!”

Scott was aware that Virgil was looked up at him too, so he opted for the easy answer, “Sort of!” and heard John scoff.

Virgil and Gordon then turned their attention to John, why had he made that noise and why had he made it right then? This time it was the two younger ones who looked at each other and wondered what it was they weren’t being told.

Scott thought fast and asked, “What do you want the new baby to be, Gordon, a baby boy or a baby girl?”

His eyes brightened at this thought. Mommy had spent a lot of time with Gordon preparing him not to be disappointed or jealous of the new baby. She had worried it might be harder for him to no longer be her ‘little baby’. It had been her mistake to allow him to become so attached to the title, but he’d been so very tiny when he was born, he could be held in the palm of her hand, she had let it go on too long. She even wondered if she may have been guilty of giving him more attention, at that age, than she could honestly say she had for her other sons. So she had taken extra care to get Gordon used to the idea of a new little baby and there was no doubt that he now looked forward to it, even relishing the idea that he would be one of the big boys now.

He thought hard for a while, “A baby girl!” He announced brightly and smiled again.

“But we’ve already got a girl! Scott grinned with mischief - they all looked at him and waited, knowing there had to be a punch line to his joke. “We’ve got John, he’s a great big girl!”

“Oh yeah, thanks STOTT!!” John reached out to thump his big brother in the arm. Gordon slid to his feet and jumped up and down excitedly, squealing with delight. Virgil ducked down and was lying on the floor encouraging the two eldest to cause mayhem. Scott moved quickly in avoidance of the punch but tripped over Gordon, crashed into the ward door, so John jumped up on the seat, arms waving in the air, shouting, “I am the champion!” 

Just as their father arrived.

But worse! The ward door opened and a stern woman in her mid-fifties stood over them. 

The Midwife! 

“Mr Tracy I presume? At last” There was no mirth in her voice, no understanding of large unruly families of boys, no consideration for the long hour and a half that they had sat there in almost silence – nothing but frowning darkness at each of the boys in turn.

John got down from the chair and heaved Virgil to his feet, Scott bent to pick up Gordon and they all stood silently, looking petrified under the glare of this Midwife.

“Once you have your…” She chose the words carefully, “hooligans under control, Mr Tracy, and only once they are under control, you may come through and met your new son!” She glared at Jeff Tracy then turned to go but turned back and added, “How you’ll cope with five boys is beyond my comprehension!” And she pushed the door hard and swept through regally.

Jeff stood with his jaw hanging slightly in shock but his brows were lowering deeply into an ‘Angry Dad’ face.

Gordon wriggled to get as far round Scott’s torso as he could, he wasn’t yet sure of Dad’s angry face, Scott turned his hip to take the little one as far as he could away from his father. Likewise, Virgil had moved to behind John and John had stepped up to take responsibility, side by side with Scott.

“Dad, I swear, we’ve been as good as gold ever since we got here, hours! We just got…” Scott struggled to find the right phrase to defuse his father before he actually blew.

“Over excited!” John finished it for him quietly, paused then added, “A boy Dad! We’ve got another brother.”

Jeff rocked back his head in a deep steadying breath. When he faced them again he was less ‘Angry Dad’ and more ‘exceptionally stern and rather disappointed in their behaviour, but willing to be a little tolerant under the circumstances’ Dad. He still frowned but it was nowhere near so intense.

Gordon, watching from behind Scott’s ear, wriggled loose and slid to the floor to go to this Daddy, the Daddy who he recognised as his own. “Sorry Daddy.” He mumbled as he hugged into his Daddy’s neck, Jeff picked him up and held him close.

Each boy in turn came into the hug, Jeff’s arm reaching them equally, and each boy said a sincere sorry for their antics, each boy realising that he could have gone ballistic but had chosen not to.

“I want every one of you to apologise to that Midwife too, will you do that for me?”

They all promised to do that for their Dad.

“Okay then, are you ready to go in?” They nodded, he held Gordon out a little from him and asked, “And are you ready to be a BIG brother now!” The toddler nodded enthusiastically. Jeff reached down and picked up Virgil as well, another new baby would put Virgil further down the pecking order a little too and he didn’t want Virgil feeling left out. 

“Right!” Jeff looked to the two eldest, “You two big lads can lead the way then.”

Going through the door, Gordon asked, “Daddy, can we call the new baby Trigger? I like the name Trigger!”

Laughing softly Jeff answered “No, son, I’m afraid not. I think your Mommy has already chosen a name. She wants to call him Alan. That’ll be a good name for him, wont it?”

And they went to meet baby Alan for the very first time.


End file.
